Of Wrenches and Wildflowers
by Pirate-Crisis
Summary: Ed returns breifly to Risembool with mechanical issues. He makes it up to Winry through sheer creativity. [EdWin, fluff. For an exchange. One shot.]


It was just another summer's day. Like always, the train pulled into the station just a few minutes late, and only two people got off. There were rarely any more than one or two people arriving in Risembool at any given time of the year. One of these two tripped down the stairs of the train, and the other, a giant suit of armor that wasn't much more graceful, caught him before he hit his face on the concrete. 

"Brother, you should really be more careful," Alphonse scolded, setting him on his feet.

"Yeah, yeah." Ed brushed himself off with the one arm he had available to him at the moment. "You try catching yourself with one arm."

A pang of guilt hit Ed squarely in the chest and he frowned, looking at the stunning green pastures of Risembool that spread out before them. The sky was a deep sapphire color and the sun was bright- there really wasn't much of a reason to worry.

Except for Winry.

Edward, once again, had come out slightly worse for wear in one of his more recent spats with some anti-military rebels that would have been quite amused to see him splattered on the sidewalk. In his misfortune which was entirely not his fault, his Automail arm had been detached from his shoulder joint in such a manner that it was not entirely re-attachable without a visit to his mechanic back in his hometown. The wires in the shoulder joint had been completely frayed; they refused to reattach themselves. It didn't help that the elbow had locked up and wouldn't bend anymore.

He currently had the useless limb wrapped up in his red coat, and was carrying it under his left arm.

"Winry's going to be so mad…" Alphonse murmured.

"I can hear it now," Ed muttered, waving his Automail arm around with his left. "'You only come to visit when you've broken something!'" His voice took on the high pitch of Winry's, but considerably more shrill. "'In any case, why do you always show up without calling?! And you're always getting hurt! Just quit the military and come home!'" He hadn't noticed it, but the coat had unraveled from the arm and its hand seemed to reprimand him; its index finger was extended in a vague sort of way and every time he moved it, the hand shook, giving the impression of a mother telling him off. "Naughty, naughty, naughty!" the metal hand seemed to say.

The proverbial light bulb of ideas popped on inside Ed's head. "I've got it," Ed muttered with a grin. "Al, come on, you can help."

---

The Rockbell home hadn't changed. It still stood on that green grassy knoll, the noontime sun still reflected off the shingles in the same way. Winry had taken it upon herself to sweep off the porch this afternoon; she had been carving prosthetic feet all morning. Pinako was inside, making lunch.

Winry happened to glance up, just in time to see a metallic glint come off a figure coming up the hill. Next to the large suit of armor was his much shorter older brother, who was holding his metal arm under his real one.

"Not again," She muttered, a frown bleeding across her face. She picked up her broom and promptly went inside, slamming the door behind her.

---

"Crud." Ed said aloud, hearing the slam. He ran up the hill ahead of Alphonse with the longest strides he could manage.

Reaching the door he knocked. "Hey, Winry?" He tried the handle, but it was locked.

"Come on, Winry…"

There was no response.

Glancing over to an open window on the side of the house, he grinned. "Be that way, Winry. I'll just get a little more creative."

---

In truth, the mechanic was sitting on the other side of the door waiting for one of his "Look, Winry, I'm sorry" pleads. When she heard his unevenly weighted steps wander away from the door, she frowned. He didn't normally give up that easily.

Two windows to her left, a slight breeze fluttered the curtains, and a metal hand grasping a flower poked through.

"Winry…!" Ed whined. He was stretching pretty far to get the arm through. "Come on, I brought you a present…"

"What's this, Edward? Bribery?" She said, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

"Just open the door, please?"

Winry chuckled, taking the flower and the metal arm through the window. She set the arm on a nearby table.

"H-hey!"

It was another minute or so before the door swung open. Alphonse was just making his way up the hill, holding his chest plate on. 

"Oh, Al's here, too…?"

"Yeah, we brought you something!" Winry could hear the smile in Al's voice.

"The flower?" She chuckled. "It was cute. I put it in a vase…" Al glanced past her to see the tiny little lily put in a small, curvy vase.

"Nope, better." Ed's mischievous smile was befitting to the face of a fox. He pushed past Winry into the open living room. "Get over here, Al!"

"Hold on, hold on." He murmured, shuffling in awkwardly.

"Prepare yourself for the biggest, most pathetic, 'Edward-Elric-apology-present' yet!"

Ed moved Al's arms and smacked the suit's chest plate. It fell off with a loud clatter. The echo was stifled by a waterfall of wildflowers that fell out of the armor. Blues and reds and yellows stood out against a plethora of green stems and leaves. Ed had been a little over-eager and pulled the roots out of the ground with a few of them.

Winry flushed a brilliant pink that rivaled a few of the blossoms.

"Well, well?"

"They're…beautiful."

Ed handed her something wrapped in newspaper.

"Wh-what?" She looked down at it.

"One more. A little more practical."

Ripping the paper apart, she felt the familiar, smooth metal she worked with every day- it was a new wrench. She shook her head at the elder Elric's lunacy and laughed.

"Thanks, Ed." On impulse, Winry leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "But you still have to pay for breaking another arm." She added in a whisper into his ear.

She crossed over to the table and retrieved the arm, and headed upstairs. "Clean up the flowers, and make it look nice." The mechanic turned and winked. "Make it look nice and we might consider a discount."

"I'll go find the broom, Brother." Al chuckled, and wandered away.


End file.
